Thirty gifted children (grades six to eight) were allocated to either progressive muscle relaxation or biofeedback treatment groups or to a no-treament, control group. Biofeedback Ss evinced a significant decrease in anxiety and both groups moved towards more internal locus of control compared with controls. There was no change in trait anxiety.…

Three common locus of control (LOC) measures were administered to 176 gifted and 204 nongifted students in grades 3 through 8 to determine the relationship of giftedness, sex, age, and their interactions to these LOC measures, and to explore instrument reliability and factor structure. Primary findings were mixed, with no giftedness main effect…

The differences between 27 emotionally disturbed/behavior disordered (ED/BD) 9-to-13-year-old elementary students and 27 of their peers on measures of perception of locus of control (LOC) were investigated. The two groups were matched on sex, race, and age. No differences were found between the groups. (Author/BN)

Compared to 45 normally achieving students, 45 learning disabled six- to 12-year-olds had lower self-concepts, more external locus of control orientations, and lower performance expectations. Children new to the resource room had higher expectations for future success than Ss with experience in the resource room. (CL)

Three groups of subjects were selected, two recognized gifted education approaches and a control. The data presented no evidence that self-concept is sufficiently sensitive for identifying gifted elementary students, whereas locus of control might be utilized as a method for identifying gifted youngsters because of its discriminating potential.…

This study assessed the long term effects of the fifth and sixth grade units of the School Health Curriculum Project (SHCP) by investigating the seventh-grade student's health knowledge, health-related attitudes, health-related practices, and health locus of control. Results are presented and conclusions are discussed. (MT)

Compared to 16 matched nonabused peers, 16 abused Ss (8-12 years old) showed no less persistence in working for rewards, made equivalent use of contingency information to maintain persistence, and assumed equivalent responsibility for success. However, they took less responsibility for failure. (CL)

Significant sex differences indicated that boys generally ate more than girls and held more internal locus of control expectancies. However, obese and normal-weighted children were not differentiated by their performance on either food-related measures nor by their locus of control expectancies. (Author/MP)

Affective development was investigated in 81 learning disabled (LD) and 81 normal achieving (control) children in grades 3-6. The Students' Perception of Ability Scale and the Projected Academic Performance Scale were used to assess academic self-concept and future achievement expectations. Academic locus of control was tapped by the Intellectual…

Children in grades 3-6 labeled learning disabled, behaviorally disordered, and learning disabled with significant behavioral disorders (total N=78) were assessed for locus of control. Children labeled learning disabled were found to be significantly more internally controlled than children labeled behaviorally disordered or than children labeled…

Thirty-six teachers and 162 elementary children in classes for specific learning difficulties (SLD) participated in a five week classroom attribution training program in one of three groups: mild frustration, success only, and control. Experimental training resulted in significant increase in ask persistence; no changes were noted in achievement…

The study with 20 emotionally disturbed and 20 nondisturbed subjects (ages 9-11) found that an external locus of control and poorer performance in decoding voice tone and facial expression were associated with emotional disturbance. Implications for teaching and remediation are discussed. (Author/DB)

This study examined children's dialogue about tasks in grades 1 through 6. Sentences produced by 14 children who were rated as having high or low self-direction by their teachers were observed and coded for dialogue features, task features, and emotional tone. Dialogue features included: (1) initiation, which was spontaneous or elicited; (2) mode,…

The influences of locus of control, awareness of control and metacognition on the use and transfer of a trained strategy were examined. Specifically, it was hypothesized that internal locus of control would be associated with more strategic performance, and that those children who were able to both accurately assess their performance with and…

Examined the effect of Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) on the attitudes of 38 parents of learning disabled children. Results indicated that parents participating in STEP became more accepting and trusting than controls, and their children's locus of control became more internal. (JAC)